In August 2016, the Westbrook Council of Beaches (COB) invited Westbrook resident Jim Crawford of EndHungerCT to make a presentation on his work on behalf of struggling families. When council member Tony Cozza heard in Crawford’s talk that 31 percent of Westbrook’s residents were the working poor (defined as Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed, or ALICE—by the United Way), he and others there that day heard a call to action.

“What hit me that day was that Westbrook was so high in ALICE and below-the-poverty-line people,” said Cozza. “Most of these people have jobs but don’t have enough to subsist.”

For many years, the COB, a group composed of 17 beach associations in Westbrook, had offered help through the routine collection at COB meetings of non-perishable food items to donate to the Shoreline Soup Kitchen’s Food Pantry at Westbrook’s St. Mark’s Church.

What Cozza felt that day was that, with the great need, it was time to step up and do more—and Cozza was not alone in that feeling. After Crawford’s presentation, a group of COB members sat to brainstorm about areas where they thought they could help. Committee members include Mary Polcaninoff, Jamie Abraham, Pat Hubbard, Dianne Ammerman, Halle Baron, Samantha Cates, and, of course, Cozza.

“Based on the results of this meeting, a committee of COB members was formed. With the help of Pat Ciccone, the superintendent of schools, and Tara Winch, the high school principal, several students were added to the group,” said Cozza.

Under this committee’s leadership, the COB’s compassionate and helping hands became more organized.

During the school year, the Connecticut Food Bank provides extra weekend food for children who, based on family income, are eligible for free and reduced priced school meals, but in the summer, when school is out, there is a gap. To fill this gap, the U.S. Department of Agriculture with the Connecticut Food Bank can provide summer lunch food. Volunteers are still needed to collect, organize, and help distribute the food.

“Through the efforts of Jim Crawford and the Connecticut Food Bank, COB volunteers will be packaging and providing bags of nonperishable food [backpacks] for needy students to be eaten on the weekends during the summer. This is an outgrowth of a program whereby students are given backpacks during the school year” to take home on the weekends, said Cozza.

Cozza said that COB volunteers get together about once a week for a couple of hours to fill the backpacks.

“The committee has been able to partner with the Westbrook School System along with those of Region 4 and New London to provide lunches for needy Westbrook students this summer [during the week]. COB volunteers will be picking up cold lunch bags in Deep River and in New London for delivery to Daisy” Ingraham Elementary School for Lunch Bunch for Kids, he continued.

The Lunch Bunch for Kids program will offer free lunches from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. from Wednesday, July 5 to Thursday, July 27 and from Monday, July 31 to Thursday, Aug. 24, on Mondays and Thursdays at Daisy Ingraham Elementary School at 105 Goodspeed Drive. Any child 18 years or younger can come to Daisy on those days and get a free lunch. There is no enrollment required and the lunches are free.

In April 2017, the Westbrook Congregational Church started a new Friday night meals program as part of the Shoreline Soup Kitchens, which previously had no meal site that offered food on Friday evenings. Learning about this program, the COB Committee wanted to provide help and support.

“Now we have seven COB volunteers that work at Friday night meals at the church. The church has seven teams of people who make and serve meals to those in need on Friday evenings,” said Cozza.

Cozza said the COB Committee has also worked with the town’s Social Services Coordinator Elizabeth Carpenter and Pat Ciccone to provide confidential extra support for families in need by donating gift cards or providing monetary donations for specific needs.

“We also just found out that we can donate food from our home gardens [to the Food Pantry]. The Y already does this. We’re going to do it too to get fresh vegetables to donate,” said Cozza.

Cozza praised COB President Barbara Wolf for helping to spread the word about ways in which COB members can help their neighbors in need.

“This [volunteer effort] grew into a big thing. Last week we put out a letter [to COB members] asking for volunteers. We’ve already gotten 12 volunteers. We’re giving out options for how people can help.”

About the effort of the COB Committee and its efforts to provide support to struggling shoreline families, Cozza said, “It’s a good feeling to make their lives a little bit better. If everybody did just a little bit, it would help so much.”